Half Agony, Half Hope
by Sunnydalesis
Summary: Emma and Neal were college sweethearts, but meddling friends persuaded them to break up. Now, almost 10 years later, their careers push them to work together. Will they rekindle the spark they had so long ago? Swanfire/SwanThief AU based on Persuasion by Jane Austen.


I had this idea buzzing around in my head. Before Once Upon a Time, Jane Austen was my first fandom. This is an AU that takes the storylines of _Persuasion_ and _Pride and Prejudice _and the characters of _Once Upon a Time_ and puts them in a modern context. I hope you guys can follow along on this.

Midas's insurance company is basically like State Farm.

Copyright for Once Upon a Time goes to Horowitz and Kitsis and others.

* * *

Richard Midas always read the Wall Street Journal as well as his monthly subscriptions to Forbes magazine. And whenever his name appeared in an article, he would clip out that article and save it in a scrapbook. However, he wasn't so fond of the latest headlines:

**"Midas Makes Gold: Insurance Company Merges with West Coast's Largest Banking and Investment Firm."**

He prided himself on being great with money. But like a lot of companies, he eventually had to merge and expand his clientele. However, he was glad that he merged with a fellow family business, which gave him a bit more of a soul than most CEOs. His daughter, his beloved Kathryn, was highly profiled in magazines such as Glamour, giving advice about how to juggle having a career and a dating life. Of course, she never had a relationship that lasted longer than five months, but she claimed that she had plenty of time to settle down, given that she was in her early 30s.

The other thing that comforted Midas as he got ready for his first day of work post-merger is that he had his best merger and acquisitions manager to help smooth out the process.

###

"So you think I should wear the red suit or the black one?" Emma Swan asked Regina, holding up two different suits.

"I think the red suit jacket and the black skirt would be best. All-black is more of my thing," Regina said.

"Great!" Emma ducked back into her room to change.

Emma Swan and Regina Mills met back in Boston as college roommates. At the time, Emma was a starry-eyed local Bostonian while Regina was the daughter of Massachusetts State Senator Cora Mills. Although they didn't get along at first, they eventually bonded over a love of fashion, being career-minded women, and having a lot of hardships in life. Regina confided in Emma about her mother's win-at-all-costs attitude and the death of her first love, Daniel, who was enlisted in the military and died in battle while Emma confided in Regina about how she was adopted. Regina eventually took advantage of her mother's political connections to help Emma find her parents. In their senior year, Emma and Regina met the Nolan family in Tallahassee, Florida, who had a child of their own, a little boy named Henry.

After graduating, Emma and Regina wanted to embrace the dream of making it in New York City. They were able to find an apartment in Queens that didn't cost an arm and a leg, preferring not to rely on Cora's money to pay for everything. Regina worked in the department of city planning while Emma worked as an insurance investigator for Midas Insurance. Eventually, she was promoted to help the well-known insurance company in mergers and acquisitions with local insurance firms around the country.

"I still can't believe that you're gonna be part of one of the biggest mergers this side of the Big Apple," Regina said.

Emma came back out of her room and met with Regina in their apartment kitchen/dining room.

"It's only gonna be for the first quarter," Emma said. "But who knows? I might go back to investigating insurance."

"I told you that you'd get to do great things," Regina said.

"Yeah, I just didn't think that it would actually happen," Emma said. She slipped on a pair of black high heels and fixed her long, blonde hair in the mirror. "How do I look?"

"Like a million bucks!" Regina said.

"And where are you off to?" Emma asked, pointing out the very styling little black dress Regina wore.

"I'm off to a town hall meeting," Regina said with a sigh. She sipped her latte and frowned.

"Again?"

"Hey, I'm in the middle of campaign season for city council. Elections start up in a matter of months. I gotta make sure that I get people interested in what goes on in this city."

Emma took out leftovers from the fridge and poured herself a cup of coffee. "I hear there was a very vocal guy who's been coming to the meetings, a Roland something?"

"No, Robin," Regina rolled her eyes. "Robin Woods."

Emma mixed in milk and added two cinnamon sticks to her cup. "I saw a picture of him in the papers. He's kind of cute and he works as part of one of the biggest law firms in the country."

"He's tolerable, I suppose," Regina said, "but not handsome enough to tempt me! He smells like forest!"

"That would be because of the camps for underprivileged kids he runs in the Adirondacks."

"Where did you read that?"

Emma held up an issue of the Atlantic Monthly. "Summer edition of the Atlantic Monthly."

"In any case, he's there irritating me about the homeless and veterans."

"You mean your plans on cleaning out the tent cities in the East Village?"

"It's not the 90s anymore! You are way too old to have a Rent complex!"

Emma looked at the clock. "I gotta go. I'll see you tonight!"

Regina nodded. "Bye, Emma!"

###

Emma Swan was not your typical New Yorker. For one thing, she always drove to work in spite of the many forms of public transportation offered and the infamous traffic around rush hour. But she was way too attached to her little yellow Beetle to let it go. She fingered her necklace at a red light, a little silver swan keychain that reminded her of days gone by. For a second, a sweet face with puppy dog brown eyes flashed in her mind. Then the light turned green and he was gone.

Emma walked through the employee entrance of the Midas building and went up the elevator to the 8th floor.

"Good morning, Emma," Kathryn said. "You're just in time for the first meeting with Gold Banking and Investments."

"Great!"

Emma greeted the other people in the office as she went into the conference room, such as Anna, Elsa, Ariel, Ella, Kristoff, and Eric. Then she turned pale and almost tripped over her heels as she saw the last person she expected in the conference room: Neal Cassidy, standing next to Mr. Gold (CEO of Gold Banking and Investments) and Belle French (President of the Belle's Books and Candles bookstores).

"Ah! Emma!" Richard Midas said. "I hope traffic didn't shake you up too much."

"I'm fine," Emma said.

"Gold, Belle, this is Emma, my mergers and acquisitions manager," Midas said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Mr. Gold said. "This is my son, Neal, of Cassidy and Woods, Property Law."

"We've met," Emma and Neal both said.

"You have?" Kathryn asked. "When?"

"A lifetime ago," Neal said.

* * *

The next chapter will see what exactly happened to Neal and Emma and why they're not in a relationship. You'll also get to see Regina and Roland in a battle of wits!

Please like and review!


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